Mtr Foods Ltd. Business Information, Profile, and History

line company hong kong

History of Mtr Foods Ltd.

MTR Foods Ltd. is one of India's leading purveyors of packaged foods. Its products include a variety of vegetarian snack foods and chips, ready-to-eat meals, and partially pre-cooked meals, emphasizing the cuisine of southern India. Other products include pickles, vermicelli, and over 30 varieties of ice cream and ice cream cones. The company is one of only a few that sell packaged food nationwide. MTR Foods also exports canned foods to the United States in an arrangement with the grocery chain Kroger and sells spices in the United Kingdom through the British company Centura Foods. MTR products are also available in Australia, Singapore, Malaysia, and other Asian countries. In 2002, MTR Foods began opening franchised fast-food restaurants across India that served its vegetarian specialties. These are called MTR Super Shops. J.P. Morgan Partners owns a 28-percent share of MTR Foods. Another 14 percent of the company is owned by Magnus Capital Corporation, a venture capital group based in Mauritius. Chairman and company director Sadananda Maiya owns the remainder. MTR operates seven manufacturing facilities. The company is the first Indian processed food company to pass strict global food safety and hygiene standards, preparing the way for MTR's penetration into a broader export market in the 2000s.

Roots in a Popular Restaurant

MTR Foods Ltd. began as a single restaurant in Bangalore called Mavalli Tiffin Rooms. Tiffin is a word traced to colonial rule in India and refers to a light meal or lunch. Mavalli Tiffin Rooms opened in 1924 and was run by members of the Maiya family. The restaurant soon established itself as one of the city's hottest eating spots. It was a modest restaurant where diners paid a single price to a cashier in front and then sat down to a five-course vegetarian meal. The restaurant did not serve alcohol and took only cash. MTR, as the restaurant was known, had a reputation for savory food and high standards of hygiene. It became a favorite with politicians and movie stars, yet the restaurant showed no favoritism, and the VIP's waited in line like everybody else. The restaurant, which still exists but is not part of MTR Foods Ltd., also became a favorite dining spot for tourists in Bangalore. In 1951, MTR was one of the first Indian restaurants to introduce steam sterilization, furthering its reputation for cleanliness. The popular eatery later branched into catering.

Change was forced on the restaurant in 1975 during the State of Emergency declared by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. Gandhi's rules for the emergency required every restaurant to conform to prices set by the government. The Maiya family felt unable to abide by the government price list. The prices were so low that the restaurant would have had to cut the quality of the food it offered. MTR had made its reputation on hygiene and cleanliness, and the owners felt that compromising the quality of the food they offered would have been disastrous. Rather than following that course, the family shut the restaurant. Its workers, many of whom had been with the restaurant for years, were suddenly unemployed. The Maiya family accommodated a few of them by offering them places in a small grocery store attached to the restaurant. At this point, Sadananda Maiya got the idea to expand the grocery by offering a bigger line of products under the MTR brand name.

Maiya was an electrical engineer by training, and he was able to bring together his skills with both food and technology to launch MTR Foods Ltd. He set the restaurant's former employees to work packaging a mix for the popular breakfast or snack pancake called rava idli. The MTR brand rava idli mix proved a good seller, and when the restaurant reopened after the State of Emergency was lifted in 1977, Maiya continued to manufacture the mix and ventured into other packaged foods as well. His company became MTR Foods Ltd., while the restaurant continued in the hands of other Maiya family members. MTR Foods began putting out other dry food mixes, as well as spices, special spice mixtures, and then pickles. The packaged food company built on the restaurant's reputation for purity.

A Dominant Regional Player in the 1980s

At first MTR Foods sold its packaged food through the MTR restaurant grocery. As the food mixes gained a following, the company persuaded other retailers in Bangalore to carry its products. Through the early 1980s, MTR distributed exclusively in Bangalore, selling at various department stores and major groceries. In 1983, MTR decided to press into other southern cities. It sent distributors to Madras, Hyderabad, and Vijayawada to introduce its products. The next year, the company made a major technical innovation. It began packaging its foods in what was called a polyester poly standy pack, the first of its kind in India. This was a high-quality plastic bag with a pyramidal base which enabled it to stand upright. The upright bags greatly increased the brand's visibility on store shelves.

Through the next ten years, MTR Foods worked on bolstering its reputation in southern India. It faced a slew of small competitors in a highly fragmented market. The only big food companies operating across India were Hindustan Lever Ltd., a subsidiary of Unilever, and the Swiss food giant Nestlé. The company consolidated its position in southern India and expanded its manufacturing facilities in and around Bangalore. MTR claimed to have leading market share in several product categories. Overall, however, the Indian packaged food market was still small. MTR was in a sense a pioneer, offering ready-to-eat food when such products were still a novelty and not entirely a necessity. In India, most food was cooked from scratch at home, and women had not yet started entering the workforce in significant numbers. MTR worked its way into being a respectably sized regional player in the 1980s, while the whole packaged foods market in India was valued at only around $30 million.

Big Changes in the 1990s

MTR began a push to become a more prominent company in the early 1990s. Beginning in 1993, the company increased the number of products it offered and actively sought out new markets. It pushed into more cities in southern India, where it eventually gained leading market share in every region that enjoyed a predominantly vegetarian cuisine. Market opportunities also increased in Bangalore, which had become the so-called Silicon Valley of India, the center of the country's booming information technology industry. MTR began providing lunches to workers at several prominent technology firms. By the end of the 1990s, Sadananda Maiya estimated that about 80 percent of Bangalore's high-tech workers were MTR consumers. Overall, the convenience food market in India was growing. As income levels rose and more women were holding jobs outside the home, packaged food boomed. The category was expected to triple in sales by the early years of the new century. MTR changed its structure in 1994 in order to accommodate future growth. The firm was broken into two divisions, one for its main food lines, spices, and vermicelli, and another to specialize in chips and other snacks. MTR also launched an export division. Sales at MTR grew as much as 40 percent annually in the late 1990s, and MTR planned to spread into more markets. Successful in southern India, MTR began penetrating into northern markets by 1998.

MTR launched a new product in 1998 in order to gain a nationwide following. This was its Softy ice cream cone. The ice cream market had long been dominated by big food companies, most prominently Hindustan Lever. MTR's new cone was an immediate hit. The company was able to price its ice cream competitively against Hindustan Lever and still maintain a high profit margin. In some cases, MTR was able to retail its frozen treats for half what Hindustan Lever charged. The company quickly expanded its ice cream portfolio, bringing out several sizes of packaged hard ice cream, some of which it sold to five-star hotels. MTR's reputation for purity evidently helped it pick up new customers.

The company also expanded its line of snack foods such as chips and fries. In addition, it brought out a new line of ready-to-eat meals based on North Indian recipes and entered an arrangement with another company to help with distribution in northern India. MTR also continued to upgrade its packaging technology. The company used a method that had been developed by India's defense department and eventually began supplying ready-to-eat food to the Indian Army. Its new packaging was called the retort pouch. The retort pouch was first developed in the 1970s and kept food safe with no refrigeration. The consumer simply dropped the unopened pouch in boiling water for a few minutes to heat the food. MTR's packaged meals were thus extremely easy to prepare and left virtually no cooking mess. The company brought 11 new prepared meals in retort pouches into the northern Indian market and debuted a smaller line of southern cuisine in the new packaging.

By the late 1990s, MTR also had plans to bring out a line of frozen food. The company proceeded slowly, because a distribution network for frozen food did not exist nationwide. Nonetheless, the company was thinking ahead, hoping to score big in the export market with frozen meals. By that time, the company was exporting some of its products to Australia, Singapore, and other Asian and Pacific countries. MTR saw great potential in exports and worked assiduously both to become a truly national presence in India and then a leading brand abroad. In 2002, the company received ISO 9002 certification, meaning it met globally recognized standards for food safety and hygiene. It also qualified under a similar global food safety program, the Hazard Analysis Critical Central Point. With these certifications, MTR had surmounted major barriers to export. It was able to get its foods into the United States through an arrangement with the grocery chain Kroger and began exporting cooking sauces to England. The company contemplated European markets as well, with a possible first venture in France.

The Vegetarian McDonald's

MTR Foods had made great strides since 1983, when it set it sights beyond Bangalore to become a major regional company. By 2001, the company still did 90 percent of its domestic business in its stronghold in southern India, yet the company fully expected to have half its sales earned in northern India within just a few more years. It had distribution in some 500 Indian towns and cities in that year and planned to reach over 800 locales by 2002. The company was also beginning to set foot in a global market that promised even greater sales. At the beginning of the 2000s, MTR took steps to ready itself for further growth. In 2000, the company raised cash by selling a 20 percent stake in itself to an investment group in Mauritius, Magnus Capital. Magnus was primarily run by Indian immigrants in Singapore. Chairman Maiya hired a new chief executive for MTR in 2001, bagging the former head of the beverage division of Hindustan Lever, Jayaraman Suresh. In 2002, Magnus Capital reduced its stake in MTR to 14 percent, and J.P. Morgan Partners, a division of J.P. Morgan Chase, paid $4 million for a 28 percent stake in the firm. This new infusion of cash was to fund MTR's most ambitious plan yet--to open a string of fast-food vegetarian restaurants. The company opened its first MTR Super Shop in Bangalore in 2002, with ten more planned for other Indian cities. The Super Shop was a combination restaurant/store that featured MTR brand ready-to-eat meals customers could buy and take home and a restaurant area where hot food was served. According to a profile in Business Line (March 22, 2001), the Super Shops were to be a "vegetarian replica of McDonald's." The company seemed to be completing a circle, from a modest restaurant to a packaged food manufacturer to a chain of franchised quick eating joints.

Revenue at MTR rose rapidly as its expansion rolled onwards. Sales stood at just under $9 million in fiscal 2001 and were expected to hit $26 million in fiscal 2002. Maiya and new CEO Suresh expected revenue to grow even more, passing $100 million by the middle of the decade if things went as planned. Exports were to account for 20 percent of revenue. This lavish growth did not seem unrealistic. The company had come far already and was now on the brink of even greater market penetration both inside India and abroad. MTR contemplated a public stock offering in 2003.

Related information about MTR

or ???) is the main rapid transit railway system in Hong Kong. Since the MTR service first opened in 1979,
the network has expanded to encompass seven lines and 53
stations along 91.0 km "Mass Transit
Railway", Transport Department (Hong Kong
Government), retrieved 16 March 2006.
Constructed and operated by MTR Corporation
Limited, the MTR system is a very popular mode of public transport
in Hong
Kong, with an average of 2.46 million"MTR Patronage Figures for
February 2006", MTR Corporation Limited, retrieved 16 March 2006 journeys recorded each day.

Much of this popularity is due to the efficiency and
affordability of the MTR. For example, a taxi ride from
Tsing Yi in the
New Territories
to Causeway Bay on
Hong Kong
Island costs around HK$200, while the same trip on the MTR costs HK$11.80,
and HK$5.70 on concessionary fare.Based on "MTR Journey Planner",
MTR
Corporation Limited, retrieved 16 March 2006. The integration of the Octopus contactless
smart card system
into the MTR system in September 1997 has particularly enhanced the
ease of use of the MTR.

Construction of the MTR was prompted by a
government-commissioned study released in 1967. The Hong Kong
Government commissioned the study in the 1960s to find
solutions to the growing traffic problem caused by expansion of the
colony's
economy.Freeman, Fox, Wilbur Smith & Associates (1967),
Hong Kong Mass Transport Study, as shown in map above mentioned. Construction started soon
after release of the study, and the first line was opened in 1979.
For example, when a person is travelling on the Kwun Tong Line
towards Tiu
Keng Leng, getting off at Yau Tong would allow him to change trains across
the platfrom for the Tseung Kwan O Line towards North Point. The
four lines were to be the Kwun Tong Line,
Tsuen Wan
Line, Island Line, and East Kowloon
Line.Freeman, Fox, Wilbur Smith & Associates (1970),
Hong Kong Mass Transport Further Study. However, the lines
that were eventually constructed were somewhat different compared
with the lines that were originally proposed by the "Hong Kong Mass
Transport Study".

In 1972, the Hong Kong government authorised construction of the
Initial System, a 20-kilometre system that roughly
translates to the Kwun Tong Line today (except the line now extends
to Tiu Keng
Leng). A consortium from Japan signed an agreement to construct the system in
early 1974, but in December of the same year it pulled out from the
agreement, stemming from fears of the Arab oil crisis."The History", Hong Kong
Mass Transit InfoCenter, retrieved 19 March 2006

Modified Initial System (Kwun Tong Line / Tsuen Wan Line)

Several weeks later, in early 1975, a government agency known as
the Mass Transport Provisional Authority was established to take
charge of the project. (This was the company succeeded by the
MTR
Corporation Limited on 30 June 2000)

Construction of the Modified Initial System (now part of Kwun Tong
Line and Tsuen Wan Line) commenced in November 1975. On 1 October 1979, the northern section was
opened, with trains running from Shek Kip Mei to
Kwun Tong.
The route from Tsim Sha Tsui to Shek Kip Mei was opened in December of
the same year.

In 1980, the first harbour crossing was made by an MTR train as the
Kwun Tong Line was
extended even further to Chater station, now known as Central station. The
line started service on 10
May 1982 with a total
cost of construction (not adjusted for inflation) at HK$4.1 billion.

When service of this line started, the section of the Kwun Tong
Line from Chater to Argyle, present-day Mong Kok station, was transferred to the Tsuen Wan
Line. On 31 May 1985 the Island Line was opened
with service between Admiralty and Chai Wan stations. Furthermore, each train was
extended to eight cars.

On 23 May 1986, service reached Sheung Wan station.
The Kwun
Tong Line was extended across the harbour to Quarry Bay, which
became an interchange station for the Kwun Tong Line and the
Island
Line. An intermediate station, Lam Tin, started
operations on 1
October 1989.

Airport Express and Tung Chung Line

The decision was made in October 1989 to construct a new
international airport at Chek Lap Kok on Lantau Island to replace the overcrowded Kai Tak
International Airport."The Airport Railway
Project", Heavy Iron Station, retrieved 19 March 2006 The government invited the MTR to build a
train line, then known as the Lantau Airport Railway, to the
airport. The Tung
Chung Line was officially opened on 21 June 1998 by Hong Kong Chief Executive Tung Chee Hwa, and service
commenced the next day. The Airport Express opened for service on 6 July 1998 along with the new Hong Kong International
Airport.

The Airport Express line is the second most popular means of
transport to the Hong Kong International Airport. MTR Annual Report 2005
Page 20

Quarry Bay Congestion Relief Works

The Quarry Bay Congestion Relief Works involved extending the
Hong Kong
Island end of the Kwun Tong Line from Quarry Bay to
North
Point via a 4.2 kilometre tunnel. Construction began in
September 1997 and was completed in September 2001 at a cost of
HK$3.0
billion."Quarry Bay
Congestion Relief Works", Hong Kong Mass Transit
InfoCenter, retrieved 19
March 2006

Tseung Kwan O Line

Construction of the Tseung Kwan O Line was approved on 18 August 1998 to serve new housing
developments. It took over the train tracks running through the
Eastern
Harbour Tunnel from the Kwun Tong Line, and ran from Po Lam to North Point.
Previously under-developed areas were opened up for development
with more transport options."Tseung Kwan O Extension",
Hong Kong Mass Transit InfoCenter, retrieved 19 March 2006

West Rail Interface Works

While the construction of the Tung Chung Line was still
underway, the plan for building a railway corridor to serve the
northwestern New Territories was conceived. Nam Cheong Station (an
interchange station on the Tung Chung Line, jointly operated by the
MTRC and KCRC) and 4-Tracking Works (the additional two tracks, 4
km in length, allow the Tung Chung Line trains to stop at Nam
Cheong without obstructing the passage of Airport
Express trains)."West Rail Interface Works,
Kowloon Tong Station Interchange, and Mong Kok Station
Enhancements", MTR Corporation Limited, retrieved 19 March 2006

The Works were completed in stages. A new pedestrian link to East
Rail Kowloon
Tong station southern concourse and a new entrance has been
completed in June 2003 to cope with the increase in interchange
passenger flow.

Modification to MTR Tsim Sha Tsui Station involved in upgrading
station factilities and concourse layout to facilitate access from
the pedestrian links of East Rail East Tsim Sha
Tsui station. New entrances to the subway links were opened on
19 September
2004 (for KCR Mody Road
subway) and 30 March
2005 (for Nathan Road
subway, which connects to KCR Middle Road subway), with the whole
scheme completed in May 2005.

Disneyland Resort Line and AsiaWorld-Expo Extension

Disneyland
Resort Line, previously known as Penny's Bay Rail Link,
provides service to the Hong Kong
Disneyland Resort which was opened on 12 September 2005. Service to Sunny Bay station on
the Tung
Chung Line started on 1
June 2005. The new line
and Disneyland Resort station opened for service on 1 August 2005.

This 3.5 km
single-track railway is an extension of the Tung Chung Line. These
carriages were converted from the existing rolling stock to suit
the recreational and adventurous nature of the 3.5 minute
journey."MTR Disneyland Resort
Line", MTR Corporation Limited, retrieved 17 April 2006

The new AsiaWorld-Expo station is an extension of the Airport
Express to serve the new international exhibition centre, known as
the AsiaWorld-Expo at Hong Kong International Airport.
Additional trains will also be deployed on the Tung Chung line
during major exhibitions and events."Projects in Progress
(Hong Kong)", MTR Corporation Limited, retrieved 17 April 2006

MTR Corporation Limited

On 5 October
2000 the operator of the
MTR network, MTR Corporation Limited, became Hong Kong's first
privatised rail
and metro company, which marked the start of the Hong Kong
government's planned initiative to wind down its interests in
various public utilities. Examples of this type of construction can be
seen at Tsing
Yi station, which is built next to the Maritime Square shopping
centre, and directly underneath the Tierra Verde housing estate.

On April 11, 2006, MTR Corporation Limited
signed a non-binding Memorandum of Understanding with the Hong Kong
Government, the owner of Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation (KCRC), to merge the
operation of the two railway networks of Hong Kong. If evenutally
approved, MTR Corporation Limited will take over the operation of
the KCR network and combine
the fare system of the two networks."MTR Corporation Signs
Memorandum of Understanding with The Government on Terms of
Proposed Rail Merger", MTR Corporation
Limited press release, 11 April 2006"KCRC welcomes
Government?s announcement on way forward for rail merger",
Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation press release,
11 April 2006

Safety on the MTR

Various campaigns and activities are taken to help ensure that
the MTR is a safe system
to travel on. Penalties ranging from fines to imprisonment have been imposed for such offenses.
"Chapter 556B - Mass
Transit Railway By-laws", Department of Justice (Hong Kong), retrieved 19 March 2006 Metallic balloons are also banned due to previous incidents on
KCR and on MTR's Island Line
where a metallic balloon interfered with the operation of the
overhead power
lines.

Police officers patrol on trains and stations, and police posts are
available at some stations. 32-35.

Tung Chung
Line, the Airport Express and Tseung Kwan O
Line, except Quarry Bay station, had platform screen
doors (PSDs) installed upon construction. HK$0.10 per passenger trip was
levied on Octopus
card users to help fund the HK$2 billion retrofit programme. The MTR Corporation
said that part of the cost had to be assumed by
passengers."Funding of platform screen
door retrofit programme", Legislative
Council, 5 January
2005.

Station facilities, amenities and services

With the high level of daily passenger traffic, facilities of
MTR stations are built with durability and accessibility in mind. The elevators and escalators in stations are heavy duty, with the
elevators installed by Otis Elevator Company/Fujitec and the escalators installed by Constructions Industrielles de la Mediterranée and
Otis Elevator Company.

After extensive retrofits, the MTR system has become, in general,
disabled-friendly —
the trains have dedicated wheelchair space, the stations have special floor tiles
to guide the blind
safely on the platforms, and there are extra wide entry and exit
gates for wheelchairs
as well.

Unlike many other metro systems around the world, "main line" MTR
stations do not have toilet facilities, although their installation
has been contemplated.

Telecommunications network coverage

A full GSM (GSM-900 and GSM-1800), CDMA and TDMA
mobile phone network is in place through out the MTR system of
stations and tunnels. Passengers can stay connected
underground.

Currently, full 3G network
coverage in all stations and tunnels for the MTR system has been
provided by 3 Hong Kong, SmarTone-Vodafone and PCCW Mobile.
Passengers with subscription services will be able to make video
calls and access high speed video content on their mobile phones
regardless whether the train is above ground or under
ground."First 3G Operator to
Connect to Four Major MTR line", www.3G.co.uk,
retrieved 7 June 2005.

Shops and other services

Until recently, MTR stations only had branches of the Hang Seng Bank and
Maxim's Cakes
stores, owned by Jardine Matheson, and a handful of other shops. Services
available at most stations include:

Hang Seng
Bank branches and ATMs

Bank of China ATMs

7-Eleven or
Circle K convenience
stores

Apart from retailers, there are also dentists and medical clinics, drycleaners, and florists along the Tseung Kwan O Line. Standard services
include payphones,
vending machines
(Coca-Cola only), and
self-service photo-booths.

Free magazines and newspapers

Recruit was the first free magazine which was solely
distributed in MTR stations since July 1992. and in 2005, there is
another weekend newspaper Express Post (????), distributed
every Saturday except public holidays.

The Metropop (????), also published by Metro International,
started its distribution in MTR stations every Thursdays since
April 27 2006, few months after the
termination of Hui Kai Guide. Flight passengers can even
have in-town check-in at the station, which offers a more
convenient and time-saving routine.Complimentary service exclusively for
Airport Express Passengers, MTR Corporation
Limited, retrieved 17
April 2006

Fares and tickets

As of January
2005, there are two different fare classes on the MTR: Adult
and concessionary. It was launched in September 1997 for use on
both the MTR and the KCR and
now is the most widely used electronic cash
system for transactions in Hong Kong as many retailers are
fitted with readers."Our History", Octopus Cards Ltd.,
retrieved 17 April
2006

The Octopus card uses radio
frequency identification (RFID) technology so that users need only hold the card
in front of the reader. This fare collection system has been so
popular that many cities such as Singapore, London, Chicago, and Taipei have adopted the idea, launching their own
version of smart
cards, respectively named EZ-link, Oyster card, and EasyCard.

Except for the Airport Express, MTR fares are slightly lower when
using an Octopus card compared to using single journey tickets. For
example, the cost of the 3-minute journey from Admiralty to
Tsim Sha
Tsui across the Victoria Harbour is (as of 2005) HK$7.9 using the Octopus card, compared with
HK$9.0 for a single-journey ticket.

Tourist pass

Two types of tourist passes are available: one allows unlimited
rides for a single day (at HK$50), while the other allows three
days of unlimited rides on the MTR, with a stored value of HK$20,
refundable deposit of HK$50 and choice of either a single (HK$220)
or return (HK$300) trip on the Airport Express.

Other fares

The magnetic fare card
system is used for single journey tickets. All trains are electric multiple
units (EMUs), equipped
with ATC
and ATP, operating on 1432 mm rail gauge. Examples are the latitudinal seating
arrangement, additional ventilation fans and 5 doors on each side per car.

The Tung
Chung Line and the Airport Express use dedicated rolling stock
designs specified to their respective lines. These two variations
are built jointly by Adtranz (now Bombardier Transportations) and Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles between
1994?97. "Lantau Line and Airport
Railway, Hong Kong", Railway Technology, retrieved 16 March 2006.

The other lines are operated using a mixture of the other two
variations, known as the "M-Train" and the "K-Stock". The "M-Stock"
(or CM-Stock") of "M-Train" are the oldest trains on the MTR, built
originally by Metro
Cammell (now Alstom)"Metro in Hong
Kong", Alstom
Transportations, retrieved 16 March 2006
and refurbished by United Goninan"United Group Limited
secures $40 million Hong Kong rail maintenance contract",
United Goninan,
from Internet
Archive. The "K-Stock" are built jointly by Mitsubishi Heavy
Industries and ROTEM"Electric Multiple Unit
- For Hong Kong MTR Limited", Rotem's XG EMU , retrieved 16 March 2006, and a further order of 32 cars is due to be
in service on the Tung Chung Line by 2007."New trains ordered for
Tung Chung Line, Hong Kong", Rotem press release, retrieved 16 March 2006"Additional Tung
Chung Line Trains", MTR Corporation
Limited, retrieved 19
March 2006

The Disneyland Resort Line uses driverless "M-Trains" with
their appearance overhauled to suit the atmosphere and theme of the
line. Windows on each carriage and the handrails inside are made
into the shape of Mickey Mouse's head, and there are bronze-made Disney
characters decorating the interior of the carriages.

By incorporating elements of art into the railway network, the
travelling environment for the passengers is not only enhanced, but
also makes their journeys even more pleasant and enjoyable.

The future

Main articles: Future of the MTR, West Island Line and South Island Line, Sha Tin to Central
Link

Several future projects on the MTR have been put forward by
MTR
Corporation Limited to the Hong Kong Government, with some
already under under construction. The network is also set to be
significantly expanded with the merger of MTR Corporation Limited
with the government-owned Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation (KCRC), with the
non-binding Memorandum of Understanding signed on 11 April 2006 to grant MTR Corporation operation of the
existing KCR network with a
service concession of 50 years. The new Sha Tin to Central
Link that was originally awarded to KCRC would now also be
operated by MTR Corporation Limited, which will run from Tai Wai Station in
Tai Wai to Central.

Provisions are made to upgrade the existing infrastructure of
the MTR. Airport
Station on the Airport Express will have a new platform to serve
departure passengers for Hong Kong
International Airport's Skyplaza. New subway links to
the stations are also being made for better access, and an
extension for the Tseung Kwan O Line to create a branch line to Tseung Kwan O
South has been gazetted. A further proposal to extend the
existing Kwun Tong
Line to Whampoa
Garden, together in a tie-up with the Sha Tin to Central Link
expansion have been made in April 2006.

The West Island Line and South Island Line, first put
forward to the government by MTR Corporation Limited on 21 January 2003, only received approval on
30 June 2005 after its heavily-modified
fourth proposal. This consisted of West Island Line extending the
Island Line to Kennedy
Town, South Island Line (East section) from Admiralty to Ap Lei
Chau and South Island Line (West section) that connects the
previous two lines. Consultation is underway and the whole
extension should be completed and operational by 2012."West Island Line & South
Island Line", MTR Corporation Limited, 17 April 2006

See also

KCR

Transport in Hong Kong

MTR
Corporation Limited

Trains on
the MTR

Future of
the MTR

List of MTR stations

List of
metro systems worldwide

References

Chronology

Key Dates:

1924: Mavalli Tiffin Rooms restaurant opens.

1975: Sadananda Maiya, a member of the founding family of the restaurant, branches into packaged food and founds MTR Foods Ltd.

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